The present invention relates to hair grooming appliances and more particularly to a hair curling brush having a halogen heating source and a blower.
Portable electric curling brushes are well known for setting curls in hair. A typical curling brush comprises a handle and a bristled curling barrel. The barrel is generally made of aluminum or some other metal having good thermal conductivity and is provided with some heating means. Typical heating means of prior curling brushes include electrical resistance and gas-burning heaters. Heat is transferred by conduction from the heated barrel to the hair.
Typically, the barrel is provided with bristles to form a brush. As hair is styled and groomed by brushing, tresses can be selectively captured by the bristles with a rotating motion of the brush and wound around the hot barrel. Maintaining the tresses around the barrel for several seconds sets the tresses into curls. It is often desirable but not possible to heat the barrel only while setting a curl into a tress of hair and cool it otherwise. It is also desirable but not possible to selectively inject hot air into hair either to dry wet hair while brushing or to improve and hasten curling.
Curling brushes differ in construction and function from curling irons, which comprise a clip for grasping the end of a hair tress against a heated barrel, but include no bristles. Although curling irons are adapted for setting curls similarly to curling brushes, they cannot provide the same styling and grooming functions which require bristles.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,143 to Mack et al discloses a hair curling iron that employs an infrared heating source within its curling barrel. The infrared heater provides heat in the form of radiation having a wavelength in the range of 1 to 7 microns. The barrel is transparent to such radiation to allow the radiation to pass through the barrel and penetrate the hair tresses. Although such an arrangement may function adequately in a curling iron, it is not readily adaptable to a curling brush as mentioned but not taught by Mack et al because the transparency of the barrel reduces its heat absorption and renders the barrel too cool. The simple addition of infrared-transparent bristles as suggested in Mack et al would not render his curling iron a curling brush as he has suggested because no provision is made for sufficient heating of the barrel. Additionally, the wavelength of the radiation emitted in the ""143 device is not within the visible spectrum and does not provide any sort of visual indicator to warn the user that the device is energized and hot.
The present invention alleviates to a great extent the disadvantages of curling brushes of the prior art by providing a curling brush having a heat source comprised of a convection heater and a halogen bulb. The halogen bulb not only emits heat in the infrared spectrum, but also emits light in the visible spectrum. The brush barrel is opaque to and absorbent of the heat emitted by the bulb so that it can operate at a temperature sufficient for setting curls. The brush additionally includes a blower that serves to circulate heat evenly within the barrel and thereby provide a more evenly heated barrel surface. The blower also serves to force hot air from the barrel and inject it into the hair. It is found that halogen heat source heats the barrel more rapidly than those heat sources of the prior art, while the airflow from the blower reduces the barrel temperature almost instantaneously once the bulb is de-energized. Further, selective emission of the visible light emitted by the halogen bulb provides a more effective warning signal to the user when the device is operational and hot.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hair curling brush.
It is an object of this invention to provide a curling brush whose barrel heats more rapidly when initially energized.
It is another object of this invention to provide a curling brush whose barrel cools more rapidly when de-energized.
It is another object of this invention to provide a curling brush whose barrel heats more evenly.
It is another object of the invention to provide a curling brush having a heat source which additionally emits visible light to warn the user that the barrel is electrically energized and hot.
It is another object of the invention to provide a curling brush that selectively comprises a hot barrel and emits hot air or comprises a cooler barrel and emits cooler air.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description and drawings, which illustrate two embodiments of the invention.